1877-1927
Members of the Diester family enjoying an outing at Line Creek about 1895. Photo provided by Debbie Devaul.
1896. Birth home of Ferd Filger.
Riverside's first mayor.
Jason Rule The house was across the street from West Englewood Elementary school. The site where Kinsley Forest development is now.
Jason Rule Fun fact: the fireplace at the Corner Cafe is made from the foundation rocks of this house. Constructed by Harlan Shaver.
Maggie Wedua Jim said he buried a house in behind this. Ferd used to run cattle up there.
LAKESIDE SCHOOL
Lakeside School was the first official school in Riverside where it was believed to have been established between 1877 and 1880. It was located in the Belgian Bottoms now known as Horizons, but was off NW Vandepopulier Street on the north side of the RR tracks. It got the name Lakeside after a flood in the late 1800's created a lake after it receded at that's where the school was built. The map below is from 1898 and how it appears modern day.
RIVERSIDE SCHOOL HISTORY
During the history of Riverside, there were three early schools that helped educate the area's young people. Boydston School was located on the north side of what is now I-29 and Northwood Road. Brenner Ridge School was across from Eagle Animal Hospital (Florence and Gateway). It later became a grocery store and a home, before being removed. But for many, "the" school was in a little frame building called Lakeside School where Miss Leila Keller, the first teacher, taught from 1921-1924. Some of the first classes held in Riverside actually took place in St. Matthew's Church. In the early years of the church, there was not a school in the community and the Sunday school class was used for secular education. Other schooling took place in a log home near the Brenner cemetery.
Lakeside School was the oldest school in the area. It was built before 1880 near the industrial area south of 9 Highway and Vandepopuliere. Originally serving as Riverside's first grocery in the bottoms, it later became the schoolhouse and was eventually razed in the 1950s. Because of its time and place, Lakeside left many memories. For years, students with last names such as Haeutter, Brenner, Renner and Linder were taught by teachers like Lelia and Amelia Keller.
Later, a small summer cottage, located north of the John and Elizabeth Brenner Memorial Cemetery, was purchased by the school board and rented out. In 1920, this school seceded from the Lakeside district. The cottage was rented for three years and called East Lakeside. It was a one-room school with a stove in the center. Grades first through fourth were taught here. In 1924, bonds were voted for the construction of another school. East Lakeside eventually became a grocery. All traces of the building are now gone.
Many Riverside residents also remember Brenner Ridge School, once located where El Chaparral Apartments are today. Initially constructed as a two-room school, it was attended by students living from Northmoor to Northwood Road. The memory of those early one- and two-room schools still lingers. In an earlier interview, Mrs. Keller recalled scenes at Lakeside that are straight from a Norman Rockwell painting. "The school had double desks with ink wells," she said. "Some boys liked to dip the girls' ponytails in them. There was a heating stove in the middle of the room and a 12-inch platform in front so the teacher could keep an eye on things. Reading, writing, arithmetic, penmanship and geography were among some of the subjects taught to all grades.
Schoolbooks were handed down from family to family until they fell apart. Older boys usually could only attend two to three months during the winter when the weather was too bad to farm." Students walked three to five miles to school with books and sack lunches for the 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. school days. Other days the school was used as a community center by Park College for Sunday school. The school had two later additions, including modern plumbing in the 1950s. Throughout this period, most high school students from the area attended North Kansas City High School. This continued until the formation of the Park Hill District in the 1950s. Also during this time, the Brenner Ridge School became a school for exceptional children. In 1923 the Lakeside District had split again. A new school was built and called Brenner Ridge.
After the Park Hill District was organized, all three schools were eventually demolished as part of consolidation. The biggest school news in the late 1990s was when Park Hill South High School was completed in west Riverside. This modern facility near I-635 is the second high school in the Park Hill District and provides a significant new focus for the Riverside community. The city and individual residents have responded with support for programs such as the school's Renaissance project and funding of symphony performances.
1850
Lakeside School in the Belgian Bottoms in 1850's. This Lakeside school is believed to be the oldest school in present day Riverside. Lakeside was on Vandepopulier Road on the north side of the railroad tracks. Scroll down for the map showing the actual school location. This photo is from 1927.
Joseph Vandepopulaire
In front of Lakeside. Joe passed away February, 2020
Civil War photo of John Smith Millsap, a union soldier, who eventually settled in the Riverside area, his land was near present day Southeast Elementary School. Millsap enlistd at age 16 and served 3 years. He eventually sold 160 acres to C.P. Breen of Parkville.
Annie Cade Ferry
1879 - 1907
Operated up and down the Missouri between St. Joe and KC. It was dismantled in 1907 after running aground.
1899
Area Map.
Modern Riverside is basically the right 1/4.
The John Brenner house was torn down about 1980. This is one of the last photos. You can see shutters missing from the lower windows that his great grandson, David Brenner took off and built a baby crib that all Brenner since have spent time in. The shutters had been made of walnut. When the Brenner's first arrived, the area was abundant of walnut trees. On the lower right you can see what was then, Dale Ricker's gas station.
Lusia Truskey Brenner, John Brenner's wife on the back porch of the home above. The house was originally built by the Warner family that only lived there about a year.
Buggy ride leaving the same home on what is now Gateway.
This is a stunning photo taken at about the same angle as the one above and at about the same time. I did colorize it and found it breathtaking.
John Peter Brenner
family portrait
1880
John Brenner was the son of Peter who was the first permanent settler. John was born in is parent's log cabin not far behind the house in this photo. This house was owned and built by John C. and John S. Warner where both had passed away by 1880, thus forcing an auction where Peter Brenner was the administrator. I guess you could have called both John's the Warner Brothers. John would be the highest bidder and this would become the family home for the next 40 years.
PICNIC FOR THE JOHN DEERE SALESMAN
About 1900. This was the annual early spring picnic in honor of the arrival of the John Deere salesman. This was in the back yard of the John Brenner house. The barn is to the left and just behind it was another building that was the ice house.
The first photo has all the guys with their hats on and the second colorized photo, shows all but one guy has removed their hats.
John Brenner in front of the smoke house barn holding his gun in front of what appears to be hides from a good hunting day.
1884
Alma (Brenner) Hauetter born.
1900
Known as the Horton house. The home was sold to Park College and it's still there.
Area families where the back of the photo says this was a fox hunt on Brenner Ridge.
Same John Brenner home a few years later with another picnic. Back then, everybody had to hold still for the photo and I don't think the little boy in the lower left like that idea.
Late 1800's
Eugene Keller had a cider mill in the bottoms where this ad was asking for good cider apples.
Second photo is Mr. Keller's cider barn. The Keller farm was located where the E. H. Young Park and Argosy is now.
This is John Wesley Brenner's house who's father was John P. Brenner. This is a painting done by Gale Stockwell. This house was just to the south of the current Eagle Animal Hospital.
Nearly 50 years later, the dairy barn to this house would become the first Eagle Animal Hospital
1895
Leimkuhler Ferry

The Quindaro ferry landing house of William Leimkuhler, shown here with his wife, who owned and operated a Missouri River ferry from 1892-1901 connecting Parkville, Mo., and Quindaro, Ks. According to a family history, "William operated the ferry until the landing on the north side of the river became so badly eroded from the current that it was impossible to land on the Missouri side." Photo courtesy Bob Gieseke.
The Quindaro ferry landing house of William Leimkuhler, shown here with his wife, who owned and operated a Missouri River ferry from 1892-1901 connecting Parkville, Mo., and Quindaro, Ks. According to a family history, "William operated the ferry until the landing on the north side of the river became so badly eroded from the current that it was impossible to land on the Missouri side." Photo courtesy Bob Gieseke.
1907
Area map.
1907
St. Matthew's
1908
Post card while on a holiday from Elizabeth to her husband. She probably made it home before the post card.
St. Matthew's Church. 1919.
Began in 1844 as a log cabin and was replaced with this frame structure in 1877 where this part still exists today. A fellowship hall was added to the right later. This photo shows the first of three parsonages that were on the north side. The door in the photo is now a stained glass window where the new door is now to the left. You can see the large vent through the roof where the church was heated by a wood stove. Even today, you can go into the sanctuary and see a metal plate covering the old wood stove vent location.
1910
Church picnic with (left to right), Charles Klamm, John P. Brenner, William Renner and Willam Brenner.
It's reported the mother with the girl in the bottom photo is Katie Klamm Brenner and the little girl would be Edith Brenner Broom.
About 1900
Locomotive passing Parkville's station.
A Park College Professor skates on the Missouri River about 1900.
1913, July
Debate over the Minimum Wage Law held at St. Matthew's.
1910
Gustaaf Vandepopuliere, wife Marie and son Marcel, sit on a wagon in the river bottoms, with produce ready for market in 1910. They were among immigrants from Belgium who lived in the Belgian bottoms of what is now Riverside. Photo courtesy Joseph Vandepopliere, a descendant of Gustaaf. This was posted on Facebook buy Joseph Vandepopuliere: This is my great grandfather and grandmother, Marie and Gustaaf Vandepopuliere. The child is my grandfather, Marcel Vandepopuliere. They were truck farmer immigrants from Belgium. They sold their vegetables at the city market. I think this was a load of parsnips and other home grown vegetables. They farmed in the "Belgium Bottoms" in Riverside, Missouri. Several families from Belgium farmed the fertile bottom land. Hence the name "Belgium Bottoms".
An outing on Brenner Ridge, earliest known photo, 1880's
Residents cutting ice out of Line Creek in the early 1900's. This was behind the current Homestead Road park where the creek makes a 90 degree turn.
Another view loading ice into the wagon. The ice was taken to the storage barn at John Brenner's where it was packed in sawdust and would last though the summer.
About 1895, Professor Fowkes investigated prehistoric burial mounds in the current Indian Hills and these are his photos. There were over 20 mounds eventually discovered. All this was on the property of Peter Brenner. The Keller mound in the photo was on the far east end of Indian Hills. The bottom photo is the Brenner mound that was at the top of Woodland.
This prehistoric native American skeleton was on display under a sheet of glass in (the future) Indian Hills for many years in the early 1900's.
Map of southern Platte County in 1899. Of note, it clearly shows Lakeside School at lower right of center.
1914 confirmation class at St. Matthews in Riverside . Back row: Ferd Filger, Victor Knoth, Clarence Renner, Elmer Renner, Julius Renner, Leslier Renner, Paul Leimkuhler. Middle row: Caroline Brenner, Lottie Tharp, Lena Clark, Rev. Alfred Schemmer, Amilia Filger, Alma Linder, Freda Schwarz. Front row: Robert Knoth, Henry Swartz, Walter Keller, Gussie Leimkuhler. (photo B. Davis).
(Below)
Believed to be members of the St. Matthew's annual church picnic.
John W. and Bessie Brenner home about 1910. John was the brother of Albert Brenner, son's of Peter Brenner. Future NKC Sentinel Federal Savings president, Marion Rupard is 4th from right in back. Dog was hungry.....
This photo was shared by Lisa Wittmeyer. She believes this photo shows a picnic/fishing day in the early 1900s, associated with St. Matthews Church in Riverside. Lisa's grandfather Urban Wittmeyer is on the far right with the fishing pole, Ken Klamm's grandmother Nell Keller is second from right with umbrella. The photo was taken on the Hansen farm above North Kansas City. It's originated from my family's photos. Many of the Hansens are in the picture. The pond was in front of their home which is now gone. Many people who lived on that hillside did attend St. Matthews or were associated with it.
A partial article from the early 1900's of the Sunday school from St. Matthew's on a picnic on the bluff of what is now Indian Hills.
Parkville
1907 Flood
1913
The Riverside area was key in the Interurban Railroad route - an electric, high-speed trolley that connected Kansas City, North Kansas City, Riverside, St. Joseph, Liberty and Excelsior Springs. Its speed and luxury would make today's light rail proponents jealous. For more than 20 years, the Interurban was a virtual miracle of transportation. In the early 1900s, the Northland suffered from bad roads. The result was slow deliveries and no way to reach good jobs in Kansas City on a daily basis. A few enterprising people realized the need for an Interurban railway that could tie the Northland to St. Joseph and Excelsior Springs.
In 1913 the Kansas City, Clay County and St. Joseph Railway Company (K.C.C.C. St.J.) was formed under a 200-year charter. The Interurban was no ordinary electric railway. It was billed as the "World's Fastest Interurban" and offered elegant steel cars with plush green seats. The wide, arched windows were decorated with cathedral panels and backlit with tungsten lamps. With a top speed of more than 70 mph, even cynics might be led to reconsider their position on "light rail." The completion of the Interurban also opened a faster and easier way to transport dairy and freight products. Two lines split out of North Kansas City with one going through Liberty to Excelsior Springs and the other through Riverside to St. Joseph. The St. Joseph mainline was almost a straight route that provided several stations along the way - including two in Riverside.
An Interurban rider could board at 7th and Walnut in downtown Kansas City and ride to St. Joseph for $1.55. One Riverside station was full time and the other was only used during races at Riverside Park horse racing track. The regular station was the two-story Brenner station located on the hillside across from the old Post Office and was owned by Albert Brenner. The other station consisted of a 20-foot canopy next to the railway at the present location of Northside Mobil Homes. This loading platform was close to the racetrack and was only used during the years that Riverside Park operated. Since it wasn't a regular station, passengers would light matches and hold them up so the Interurban would know to stop.
The track lay close to the bluff around Indian Hills, across the Interurban bridge, then ran beside AA Highway through Northmoor and on north. During its best year in 1923, the Interurban receipts totaled one million dollars. Six years later this dropped to $120,000. The sagging economy and financial problems saw the Interurban make its last trip in 1933 and closed. In debt, The K.C.C.C.& St.J. railway abandoned its tracks and bordering landowners reclaimed much of their land. Tracks and ties were later removed, some in the 1940s for war materials. The Interurban didn't disappear completely. An early Riverside motel was constructed using "recycled" Interurban cars. Today, the only visible evidence is the large double arched concrete bridge at the end of St. Joe Boulevard and a faint trail along the south side of Indian Hills.
BRENNER'S STORE, 1916
We see the store is packed with seeds. The store began in 1916 when the interurban arrived. The Riverside Park horse track wouldn't come along until 15 years later in 1928. The Brenner Store was one of two stops in Riverside. The horse track brought much needed income to the station where patrons had to walk through the store to get to the track.
Copy of the first page of the lease is below.
Interurban Construction
Somewhere in Platte County
before 1913
Interurban derail in northern Platte County
Brenner Store, interuban station about 1914
Here's an older woman waiting on the train. Makes you wonder who she was, where she was going and why would you have a photo taken?
A mom and her kids waiting on the train. Notice the horse and buggy to the right.
Interurban Bridge
Modern day. Bridge is now a part of the walking trail system and is at the end of St. Joe Blvd off Vivion.
It is a Luten designed double arch bridge.
Looking south from about the current Northmoor city hall, we see the interurban coming from Riverside. We see a road to the far left, but today's Waukomis Drive (we used to call it AA highway) is on our left and otherwise not there yet. Today when you travel north on Waukomis, you can still see signs of the old track.
About the same view in 2018. The road was not the track. It was about 20 or so to the right.
Northmoor Interurban station 1913.
Second view is from the front.
Deister Station
By todays Line Creek Park
1st photo: Shows "grandpa Wm Deister"
2nd: "A group of the French Class of John C. Deister"
3rd: Teress Deister, Emma Deister, Peter Deister & Rita Deister
1914
Topography map up close and the same map of the south part of Platte County.
HOG MILLING ON BRENNER RIDGE
Back of photo says, "Hog milling on Brenner Ridge". Second man from left is thought to be John Peter Brenner and this may have been on his farm which was across the street from today's roller skating rink on NW Gateway. Circa 1915 (colorized)
John Wesley Brenner
Off Northwest Gateway
John Wesley Brenner driving an REO Speedwagon. The were considered trucks then. Yes, a rock band would later steal their name.
William Brenner
1920
By a broken down junk car with two of his three boys: Sherman, Everett and Lowell. We don't know which two or where in Riverside this photo was possibly taken. Photo by: Martha Brenner Noland
RENNER-BRENNER HOUSE
Was built in 1921 when Carolina Brenner wed Leslie Renner. This same year they plowed the field behind the house and Mett Shippee came across and discovered it's archaeological significance. See www.RennerBrennerSitePark.com for more.
See the slider page for a then and now image.
East Lakeside School, 1923.
The school was located next to today's Brenner Cemetery on NW Gateway Drive just north of Leibrand's automotive. The school building in the early 1930’s became Edward Brenner’s grocery store. This school was a spin off of the original Lakeside School and didn't last long after the newer Brenner Ridge school was constructed. Photo courtesy Platte Co Historical Society.
Brenner Ridge in the 20's
Was the third school in the Riverside area. The first was Lakeside in the Belgian bottoms, the second was East Lakeside.
January 2, 1925
Interurban catches fire near the Northmoor Station.
Thrashing the wheat harvest about 1925 on Brenner Ridge.
Although the threshing ring was a time of much work, it was also a time of great excitement. It was a time when neighbors came together to work side by side for a common goal. It was a way of solving problems together and cooperating with those around you. It is this balance between rugged individualism and hearty collaboration that built the American Midwest and is still defining us in many ways today.
Colorized version.
This home was in the Riverside bottoms and built from a store bought kit by the Demeuleanere family who later sold it to the Vandepopulair's. It was last owned by Don Coleman for his business. The home was believed to have been built about 1923. The truck was owned by the Vandepopulair's. Other families known around the Belgian bottoms were the Deconik's.
Fairfax Bridge
1920's
This is a re printed article on the golden anniversary of John and Lousia Brenner in 1924. The article is an excellent explanation of the early history of Riverside in John's own words. John would become ill shortly after this and would move in with his daughter (
Carolina Brenner Renner) and would die in her home in August 1929. Carolina's home is the old white house that is on the south side of the Renner-Brenner Site Park. Lousia passed in 1933. The are both buried in the cemetery that bears their name on the west side of Gateway southwest of the Eagle Animal Hospital. When John moved in with Carolina and her husband Leslie, she had a special room for her dad where she had an electric door bell by his bed to summon her when he needed help. My first wife, Mary Brenner Smith and I bought the home in 1980 and that room still had the door bell in it. It was years later before I learned the history of the door bell button on the wall.
Carolina Brenner Renner) and would die in her home in August 1929. Carolina's home is the old white house that is on the south side of the Renner-Brenner Site Park. Lousia passed in 1933. The are both buried in the cemetery that bears their name on the west side of Gateway southwest of the Eagle Animal Hospital. When John moved in with Carolina and her husband Leslie, she had a special room for her dad where she had an electric door bell by his bed to summon her when he needed help. My first wife, Mary Brenner Smith and I bought the home in 1980 and that room still had the door bell in it. It was years later before I learned the history of the door bell button on the wall.
Albert Brenner was the son of John Brenner and built this house that you saw across the street from Red X for years. It was built in 1919. It was the first house in Platte County to have running water and gas lights. The running water came from a pit dug up hill that had to be filled with water and was gravity fed into the house. The gas lights were called blau lighting. This meant cow poop. Another pit was dug and filled with cow poop and covered so the gas went into home and lit all the fixtures. My grandpa, Emery Albert Brenner, grew up here as well as his sister Bernice. Bernice would later meet Vern Davis who was a jockey at the Riverside Park track and they would marry. Although they would travel the region during the track days for Pedergast, they never moved far and would spend rest of their lives off Woodland Road in Indian Hills only a walk away from her childhood home.
Another photo of the home taken in the early 80's.
They had a storage cellar to the east side of the house that remained until about 2012. The old walls had the hand prints of all the kids and grand kids. I did go there before it was destroyed and all the interior had been removed or had fell in too many pieces to recognize. In 40's, Albert built apartments right by the old cellar and little cottages that were down the hill and across the street from Red X. There's more photos of that in the timeline later.
Strawberries were grown in the area where later Red X would be and around the bluff to the Renner Site. Albert Brenner created coins where pickers would be paid by their pick and could trade in their coins at the bank in Parkville at the end of the week.
Unknown group photo that may have been taken on the bluff across from the current Red X.
DISCOVERY OF THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE RENNER SITE
After month when by with no response, Shippee continued his excavation and also continued to plead Dr. Waldo Wedel to come investigate. Nearly 15 years went by before Wedel responded that he would bring a team the summer of 1937.
1926
The first track of any kind was a greyhound track. This would soon become Riverside Down's Horse track (article below photo below of the NKC track) and learn from the article the grandstand was already and the track would be enlarged to a half mile. Years later it would enlarged again to a full mile.
There was a another track opened in 1930 (photo just below) of a dog track just east of the horse track that was actually just barely inside Clay County.
1926
Beginnings of the Horse track.
May 1927
